


Just Best Friends

by wanderingwitchoftime



Category: Homestuck
Genre: ? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Fluff, M/M, idk its a mix, john likes dave first for once, most of my fics are, no angst till later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4121173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingwitchoftime/pseuds/wanderingwitchoftime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert is completely fine being best friends with his long-term crush, Dave Strider, until he sees how much competition he has.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. a mature game of truth or dare

**Author's Note:**

> i just want to start off by saying i fully recognize that giving rose, dave, roxy and dirk the last name of "Strilonde" is a little dumb but theyre siblings and i dunno what else to do so we're just gonna deal with it  
> also im not the best at writing exposition but thatS okay  
> enjoy

It’s a Friday night and everyone’s over at Rose and Dave’s house. Even the older siblings.

“Jade, truth or dare?” Jane asks.

Mrs. Strilonde said we could all sleepover as long as she didn’t have to cook for anyone or pay for anything.

“Dare.”

You’ve already been there for hours, and you haven’t been bored one second. You started off playing BS with two decks, then a couple other card games, then you had a couple good rounds of Mario Party, and since then you’ve been playing Truth or Dare.

“I dare you to… hm… kiss someone..?”  
People around you chuckle at Jane’s childish dare.

“Who?”

“Hm…” She looks around. “Dave?”

“Ooookay.”

They both lean forward and share a small kiss. Oh man. You hope someone dares YOU to kiss Dave. You would love to kiss Dave. You’ve wanted to kiss Dave since freshman year.

It’s junior year now. The only reason you haven’t done anything about it is because it’s always been sort of casual—since you started liking him, he hasn’t expressed interest in or dated anyone. So instead of making things weird for anyone, you’ve been keeping it on the down low.

“Um… Roxy, truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you text the first person in your contacts a winky face. Then, if they reply, don’t say anything.”

“Pf. Okay.” Roxy takes her phone out. “Oh shit, it’s my English Professor.”

You all laugh and she sends the text.

She turns to you and reaches for your hand, which you give to her. “John, truth or dare.”

“Uh… Dare.”

“I dare you to kiss Dave.”

Jackpot.

People laugh at the dare, and you know Roxy was trying to be funny. This isn’t even the first time you’ve kissed Dave on a dare; you think people find it funny to think of such good friends kissing.

You shrug, let go of Roxy’s hand, and turn to Dave, who’s sitting right next to you. As you straighten your back to reach him, your hand finds his cheek. You make sure your kiss is a bit longer than Jade’s was.

Everyone stays up until well after midnight, but once the first person starts falling asleep we decide to call it a night. There are five rooms available to your group of ten people. Dave’s, Rose’s, Dirk’s room, the guest room, and the living room (Roxy’s old room became the guest room when she went to college—she’s just visiting this weekend). Sleeping arrangements are as follows: You and Dave in Dave’s room, Rose and Jade in Rose’s room, Dirk and Jake in Dirk’s room, Roxy and Jane in the guest room, and Karkat and Kanaya in the living room.

You love Dave’s room, honestly. He’s always hanging up new stuff for you to look at. You spend a while looking around. He has a little part of his wall where he hangs up things that have to do with you, and another part for the rest of your friends. Your area has “egderp” written in big blue sparkly stickers. There are some selfies you and him have taken, a couple funny pictures of you, some polaroids he took of you with the little modernized polaroid camera you got him for his birthday one year. There’s even a picture of you he took with his actual expensive camera when you guys went to the beach and watched the sun set. It’s a really nice picture, light-wise. Artistic. You try not to dissect your flaws too much. There are a couple little notecards where he wrote some silly things you’ve said down. He carries a pack of note cards with him everywhere in case you or someone else says something worth remembering. He’s also written some nice things you’ve said to him. What a nerd.

You’re standing there smiling at the wall when he says, “Yeah I haven’t added anything in a while.”

You walk over to where he was sitting at his desk and rest your arms on his shoulders. You chin sits on his head.

He goes on. “Been meaning to. I’ve got some more selfies to print out.”

You just hum in response. His hands find yours and lightly tap them, as if he just wants some sort of physical contact. His hair is soft.

“I wanna make a Dave Shrine.” You mumble, tilting your head so your cheek is lying on his head.

“I don’t know why you haven’t yet. Get with the program, Egbert. This is your god speaking, he wants you to get your damn act together.”

“Mm. I was thinking more of a friendly thing, rather than a worship-y thing.”

“Damn. I see I’m more committed to this relationship than you are.”

“How do you figure?”

“I pray to you every night, John. I kneel by my wall and ask for good blessings.”

“So THAT’S what those voices are. That makes sense.”

“Pf,” Dave turns his swivel chair so he’s facing you and your elbows slide off his shoulder; you end up just hanging on by your hands, which play with his hair. You take a step closer for the sake of ease.

He used to not like you touching your hair, way back when. It’s been years since he’s been letting you, but you still sometimes take a moment to appreciate all the little Dave Things you get to see or hear or touch that he doesn’t show most others.

“Tired?” He asks.

“Honestly, no.”

“Me neither. What do you wanna do?”

You let out a high pitched, “Ummm” As you gracefully take a seat on his lap. His arms naturally wrap around you. Such is your friendship.

“What do I even have in here—” He mumbles, looking around. “I have a couple board games?”

“Like?”

“Ummm, Uno, Candyland, Connect Four, Mancala and probably a couple others.”

“I bet I can kick your ass at Connect Four.”

“Fuckin’ prove it.”

You hop off of him and he finds the game. You set up on his bed. Keeping the game upright is a challenge, but the bed is more comfortable than the floor.

You don’t exactly kick his ass, but he doesn’t kick your ass either. After eight or so games, you decide that next time Dave wins, you’ll throw your remaining pieces at him. And that’s just what you do.

One piece lands between the lenses of his shades and his eye. He gives you the most unamused face while you’re practically yelling over how awesome you are.

"KOBE!” You say after some ten seconds.  
Dave scoffs, taking his shades off. He throws half of his pieces at you. “That’s for attacking me with your lame-ass yellow pieces.” And then the other half. “And that’s for using straight white boy terminology.”

You laugh, brushing pieces off of you.

“Square up, Strilonde.”

“Tryna step Bro?”

“Fight me, scrub.”

He roughly pushes the board game off of the bed, and you gasp. “Come at me.”

Your gasp turns into an odd laugh. You look at him to see him smiling slightly. You decide to pounce on him, if only to get closer to that precious face. You end up laying on top of him with your legs in between his and your hands in his—you, trying to push his hands against the bed and him, resisting. Every time you wrestle with him like this, you think about kissing him. It’d be fun, ya know, in such a situation. You think whenever you decide to tell him about your feelings, that’s how you’ll do it.

“Are you even awake enough for this?” Dave asks after a moment.

"Pf. Course I am.”

“Just don’t fall asleep on top of me.”

“I won’t.”

Dave makes a “hup!” sound as he pushes harder on your hands and flips the two of you over.

“There, now if you fall asleep I won’t have to wake you.”

That’s actually kind of nice, you think. But you’d never tell him that.

“Why do you think I’m gonna fall asleep?”

“It’s way past your bed time.”

“I don’t have a bed time.”

“Yeah but when we text you always say you’re going to bed around 10 or 11, and it’s like, 4 am.”

It’s kinda nice that he noticed.

“Aw, you care about me.”

“Huh?”

“You memorized my sleeping schedule.”

“Nope, I don’t care about you at all.”

“Right.”

“After all these years, Egbert, I’ve never cared about you a second.”

“I’m hurt.”

He laughs. Letting go of your hands, he sits up. “Honestly though, I don’t know if there’s enough in me for a good fight right now. Been a long day.”

“Ooh, how long?” You know that Dave can usually stay up way later than this. Also that by “long day” he usually means a bad day.

“I don’t know, long.”

You prop yourself up on your elbows.

“What happened?”

“People keep…Talking to me.”

“Oh, how awful.” Of course, you know that this is a real problem he has. You just love teasing him.

The corner of his lips twitch up in the smallest, gentlest smile. “Shut up.” He reaches out and ruffles your hair for a second before pushing your head backwards. “But yeah, especially in Calculus, the person I sit next to is always trying to make friends. It’s exhausting. Art, too. It’s just not my kinda crowd, ya know?”

Dave has never been very good at making friends. Once he’s comfortable with someone, he’s great at communication, but with new people he’s lost. He’s also very smart. All of his core classes are AP. It amazes you.

“I know. You wanna sleep?”

“Nah, talking to you is pretty much second nature. But if we can just sit or lay or somethin’ that’d be great."

“Sounds good.”

He maneuvers himself off of you and you rotate onto your side. He lays facing you.

“So. Talking.” He begins.

“Ah, yes. Talking.”

“How was your day, Egbert?"

You ramble about your classes, and then have him go into more detail about his.

The two of you stay there until light comes in through the windows.


	2. Coffee Run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, sorry this took so long. I still don't have a good title, hah. Enjoyyy

“Oh shit,” Dave says, noticing the sunlight. “We’re going roller skating in, what, three hours? Assuming it’s around 7.”

You pause, considering your situation.

“Fffuck.” You begin with a chuckle. “Why do you have to be such a goddamn delight, Dave. If I didn’t enjoy talking to you so much, I could be getting my beauty sleep right now.”

“You don’t need it.”

Your heart skips a beat and your cheeks get red. “Shut up. Gay.”

“Pffff.”

You sigh, but you’re smiling. “Coffee?”

“Coffee.”

You lie there for another short while until you decide if you want to get dressed, get coffee, and come back in time for Roller Skating, you better start.

You both change into new clothes, not bothering to give the other privacy. Neither of you care.

You brought a green and gray flannel and dark gray joggers. You wear the same blue vans as you wore yesterday and roll your sleeves up.

“Wait, you did it wrong.” Dave says, walking over to you. He’s only wearing a Blink 182 muscle shirt that you suspect was from the women’s section. Not that that matters to either of you. It’s mostly just surprising how well it fits him. He’s wearing Superman boxers with a cape attached to the back.

“What, I just pushed them up—”

“Exactly.” He mutters, pulling down one of your sleeves. He folds it up so that the cuff starts right above your elbow and then folds the remaining fabric up so that the cuff barely peeks out of it. Then he does the same with the other side. “There ya go.”

You scoff. “Thanks.”

He smirks at you before walking over to his bottoms drawer. “What pants should I wear?”

“Something easy to move in.”

He kneels by the drawer and starts rummaging through it. You take a seat next to him.

He pulls out a pair of sea foam green short sweat shorts and holds them up to you as if asking “yes or no?”

“I can dig it.”

During the school week, Dave likes to stick to the accepted standards of how boys should dress. On the weekends, he lets his hair down a bit.

Even though he only does it out of school and when he’s with friends, you still think he’s brave. You personally love skirts and dresses and other “girl” clothes. How do you know? Before you came out as transgender, you wore them all the time. You actually realized you were a boy later than you maybe would have because you like skirts. Whenever you looked into it, you’d see stories about transboys feeling uncomfortable in dresses and such. It wasn’t until eighth grade when Dave first wore a skirt in front of you and he told you that boys can wear skirts if they’d like, transboys included—you asked about the transboys—that you accepted that you’re really trans.

Dave pulled you aside later that day and asked if you wanted him to use different pronouns or anything. You said not yet. Then you came out to him and your other friends the following week.

When you came out to your Dad a month or so later, at first he didn’t understand, and then he panicked, and then he started blaming it on things—he blamed himself, the things you watch, the clothes you wear. He blamed the absence of your mother. Ultimately, he accepted you. But the next day when you were at school he cleaned out your wardrobe and bought you a bunch of new clothes. You thanked him even though you didn’t really want to stop wearing your other clothes.

Anyway, you don’t own any “girl” clothes anymore, but if you did you wouldn’t wear them for fear of people switching back to old pronouns and calling your trans-ness a phase.

Dave slides the shorts on and stands. His boxers almost poke out, but it’s not noticable enough to change them, you guess. As he starts toward his white converse, you smack his butt.

“Yo, hands off the merchandise. Looking is free, touching is extra.”

He doesn’t mean it. He makes a show of bending over to pick his dirty ass shoes up.  
Once they’re on, you both go out to Dave’s truck, sneaking past a sleeping Karkat and Kanaya.

“Where to?” He asks.

“Um. Somewhere other than Starbucks, I don’t want to spend $5 on coffee since I’m spending like $15 on roller skating.”

“I’ll pay.”

You give him your most unimpressed look.

“Dude, my pockets are deep as fuck. It’s not a problem.”

“But—still. I feel bad.”

"Don’t. Do you want to see my bank account? $5 aint shit.”

You know how loaded he is. His mom is a big-time physicist. She gets tons of money from royalties on the books she’s written as well as her huge salary from her actual job. She gives all her four kids a couple hundred a month. Dave and Rose rarely spend even half of it before the next allowance, so they’ve got a lot just sitting there in their bank account.

You whine in response.

“Do you want Starbucks?”

You stick your bottom lip out and pout. Dave just smirks and backs out of the driveway. You take the liberty to connect your phone to his speakers through Bluetooth and you put your music library on shuffle.

When he gets to the Starbucks drive through, he stops in the line and turns to you. “What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

"Literally—” He takes your glasses off and pokes right under your eye. “Look at those bags.”

“I would if I could see.”

He chuckles and gives you your glasses back. “I’m kidding anyway. But still, we haven’t slept in twenty-four hours. You need caffeine if you want to roller skate to your full potential.”

“Fine, I’ll have a grande java chip frappucino.” You take out your wallet but he just snatches it and sets it down on the dashboard. You pick it up and he snatches it and sets it down and that goes on until he has to drive up. You shove him as soon as he stops again.

“You can pay for your coffee if I can pay for your roller skating.”

“I hate you.”

“Or I can pay for both.”

"Dave.”

“John.”

“Spend your money on you. Or charity.”

“I do both of those things and yet I still have more money than I know what to do with.”

He orders the coffee.

“Spend more money on yourself. Treat yo self.”

“Whenever I want something, I buy it. I just don’t need much.”

“But why do you spend so much on me?”

“Probably has something to do with you being my best friend. Just let me be your sugar daddy, John.”

You snort a laugh.

“Come on, all you have to do is look cute and I’ll buy you things. We’re all winners.” Dave goes on.

“I don’t know how to look cute.”

“You’re doing it right now.”

You blush. “I—Okay.”

Dave laughs at you. He pays with a Starbucks card.

When you get back to his house, everyone’s in the living room. They all react to your arrival in unison.

“So that’s where you were.”

“Dudes, you should have told someone you were leaving!”

“No Starbucks for your big sis?”

“Well, finally.”

“Fuckin’ hipster douchebags.”

“Fantastic,”

“Are you two ready to leave?”

“Wanna gimme a sip a’ that?”

Dave passes his cup to Dirk.

“Sorry, guys! We kind of didn’t sleep last night.” You explain.

“Aw, you guys! You’re going to fall asleep in the rink.” Jade crosses her arms over her chest.

“That’s what the coffee is for.” Dave takes a sip.

Your eyes find Jane’s and they give you a disapproving look. You stick your tongue out at her.

“Young man, don’t make me call Dad.”

You scoff. “Sorry Jane.”

She laughs. “I’m kidding. But, really, that’s not good for you, Johnny!”

“Yeah Johnny.” Dave mutters.

You turn and smack him.

“Can we go now?” Rose requests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a choppy ending. Lmao, just wanted to cut off before they went skatin'. Comments r cool B)


	3. blades are for skates

John grabs his roller blades and you all file out of the house and stop in the driveway.

“I’ll take four cool kids in my car.” Roxy offers.

“Me too.” Kanaya chimes.

“Aight, I call Janey, Dirky, Jakey, and…” She looks around. “Johnny! You can hang with us old people.”

You gaze at Dave, who actually does look disappointed, which you love. You savor that for a moment before saying bye to everyone and trotting over to Roxy’s pink Jeep Wrangler.

Jane sits in the passenger seat, you sit in the middle, and Jake and Dirk sit on either side of you. After Roxy starts driving, Jane turns to look at you.

“What were you and Dave doing all night?”

“We played some Connect Four and then we just talked.”

“Blow me! That conversation must have been the mutt’s nuts!” Jake exclaims.

There’s a pause, and then everyone’s laughing, even Dirk.

“What?” Jake asks.

“Those are new—” Roxy muses, still laughing.

“What did I say?”

“Tell me,” Dirk begins. “What does ‘blow me’ mean overseas?”

“Well, it’s just the shorter version of ‘blow me down.’”

“And what does _that_ mean?” Jane snorts.

“It’s—It’s an exclamation.”

“And ‘the mutt’s nuts’?” Roxy can barely say it without laughing.

“I suppose Americans would say ‘fantastic.’”

“That's gotta be fake.”

“Anyway, anyway,” Jane says loudly to get everyone to stop laughing. She’s looking at you again. “You and Dave are real close, huh?”

“Yes..?”

“He’s cute, aint he?” Roxy looks at you through the rear view mirror.

You hope you don’t blush. “Yeah.”

Jake puts his lanky arm around you and pulls you closer to him. “Do you fancy the young man?”

“What? No. He’s my best friend.”

Dirk hums and raises his eyebrows at you.

“Did you guys have a meeting about this or something?”

They speak one right after the other, as if it was rehearsed.

“Course not,”

“But we all slept in the guest room last night.”

“It came up.”

“Turns out we all think it.”

“Turns out you’re all wrong.” You reply.

“There’s no shame in it, Kiddo. We’re a very attractive family.” Roxy smirks.

“No, I know. But I really don’t like him. We’re just really close.”

They all make faces of disbelief but they don’t push it further.

\--------------

Your big sister stole John to ride in her car. You’re disappointed but not upset; it’s not like Kanaya’s car’s not full of your other dorky ass friends.

Rose sits in the passenger seat and Jade sits in the middle. You sit in the seat behind Rose.

“What did you and John do all night?” Rose asks.

“After I crushed him at Connect Four we talked ‘till sunrise.”

“Goals.” Jade giggles.

“Hah.”

“What were you talking about for so long?” Kanaya muses. It doesn’t sound much like a question, but you answer anyway.

“Nothin’”

“Hm?”

“I dunno man, we started by talking about our day and somehow got to like 800 different topics.” You and John talked about all of your friends a few times each. You talked about old memories from middle school or freshman year. You talked about books. Somehow you kept each other entertained for hours.

“Sounds lovely.” Rose smiles.

Somewhere along the way, Karkat starts arguing with Kanaya and Jade passes you a note when no one’s looking.

On the outside, it says: “dont read until after!”

You give her a thumbs up and slide it into your shorts pocket. You hope it doesn’t fall out. You and Jade talk to each other while the others argue. Well, Rose mostly watches. And Kanaya isn’t arguing so much as gently nudging Karkat into monologue after monologue.

“You haven’t gotten any better at roller skating since we last went, have you?” Jade asks.

“Not at all.”

You can’t even pretend to be good at roller skating. Especially not with John around. He and Jane took classes as kids and they go often enough to keep it up. It’s ridiculous how good they are.

You guess John put his blades on in the car, because he and Jane skate over to the car when you park.

They manage to skate at the group’s slow walking pace.

“Yo, E.” You call to John.

“Was that for me?” He asks.

“Yep.”

“What is it?”

“Can I pay for you?”

“Thank you for asking. No way.”

“But you look so cute in your roller blades, bro. As your sugar daddy, it is my duty—”

“What did I just hear?” Jane pops in.

“Oh, this morning it was decided that John is my sugar child and I’m his sugar daddy.”

“I see,” Roxy winks.

“I didn’t agree to this.” John says defensively.

“Sure ya did. I called you cute and you said ‘okay.’”

“That’s just cause I didn’t know what else to say.”

“My point stands.”

“Still, don’t pay for me.”

“I want to. Why are you crushing my dreams like this, Egbert?”

“Shhhhut up.”

He pays for himself despite your pouting.

The session is three hours long. The rink also has a food area and a small arcade. What your friends like to do is stay around the actual rink, usually skating, until the dice game is over. Then you go to the arcade. Of course, you suck at roller skating. It’s just a fact. You’re really, really bad at it. You find yourself on the rink every once in a while, but you prefer to just watch from the sidelines. There’s always people tag-teaming to give you company so you’re not just sitting there alone.

You start off on the rink, clinging to the wall. It’s not like all of your friends are great at skating, but you’re the worst of ‘em. Dirk and Jake always go slowly with their arms partially out to help them balance. Karkat can go pretty fast but he almost always ends up falling. Kanaya’s almost as good as the Egberts.

After he takes a couple laps around, John twirls to skate backwards in front of you.

“Hey, man.”

“Sup?”

“I think it’s about time you learn to skate properly.”

“Yeah yeah, you say that every time and you always try to teach me but—”

“Okay, you’re right. But it still enjoy it.” He reaches his arms out and you begrudgingly accept his offer. You hang on by holding onto his elbows while he holds yours. You look down at your feet and his while he slowly moves you away from the wall.

“It’s fun seeing you like this.” John laughs.

“Fuck off,” You mutter. You misstep and almost trip, but John holds you firmly. You sigh. “Wanna go sit with me?”

John sighs the most exasperated sigh. “Okay fine, you butt.”

“I can’t believe you just called me that.”

He sticks his tongue out at you before leading you both to the nearest exit.

You sit at a little bar type thing on the edge of the rink.

“I mean, I’m just not good at it, so I don’t enjoy it—” You explain yourself.

“You enjoy rapping don’t you?”

“Aw,” You put a hand over your heart and act like you were hurt. “Low blow, man.”

John laughs.

“That was actually a good one, Egbert. I commend you.”

“Thank you. No but you’ve explained it before, like every time we come here. It’s cool. I’m glad you come anyway!”

You let your lips curve slightly only to show that you appreciate what he said. “Yeah, but I always drag you and the others out here when they’d rather be skating.”

“No way, man. Skating is quite the workout, everyone needs to rest every once in a while. You just give them an excuse! And company while they cool down.”

You just nod and look back at your friends on the rink. Jane is going fast around and around, lapping just about everyone a few times each. Roxy goes at a fair pace, but stops for a moment to shout as Jane passes her, “WOO! JANEY!” Jane twirls for show, smiling, before falling back into her insane tempo.

“What’re you looking at?” John asks.

“Your sister. Can you go that fast?”

“Nah. Well, I guess I’ve never tried. But probably not.”

You hum. Jane’s pretty cute, you think. She looks a lot like John, with curlier hair and lighter blue eyes. And different glasses. Other than that, she has kinda the same smile and nose and eyebrows—why are you thinking about this right now? Well, you don’t see Jane that often. You just sorta… noticed.

“She’s too old for you.” John states firmly.

You start and whip your head towards him. “Wait, what?”

“Jane. I mean, in ten years it won’t seem like much of a difference… But as it is, you shouldn’t date a junior in college—”

“I don’t want to date your sister, bro.”

“Then why are you _looking_ at her like that?”

“I was thinking about how she looks like you.”

“So you want to date me too?”

“Pff,” You shove him.

He laughs at you. “What if I wanted to date one of your sisters? Or your brother?”

“That’s gross. He’s gross.”

“Jealous?”

You smile and shake your head. “Gettin’ your flirt on, Bro?”

“When I get my flirt on, you’ll know.”

“I feel like you are.”

He shrugs with a small smile on his face as if saying, “You’ll have to figure it out yourself.”

“Anyway,” John goes on. “Look at him.”

You search for Dirk. He’s skating near Jake, barely moving, his arms stiff at his side for balance. Jake’s stance is similar, but his arms are more spread.

“What about ‘im?”

“He looks like you.” John bumps your shoulder with his.

“I don’t see it.”

No, you definitely see it. But you’re still gonna pretend you don’t.

“He’s pretty much a shorter, hotter version of you.”

Your head snaps back to look at John. He starts snickering “Huh?”

“Oh my god, I’m joking you baby.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re toooootally hotter. I mean, you’re taller, so.” He smiles. “But then everything else is the same.”

You snort. You know John’s joking. Well, you are actually taller than Dirk. Is Dirk happy about it? Absolutely not. Are you? Hell yeah. Roxy and Dirk got short genes from their dad while you and Rose got tall genes from your dad.

Yeah, Roxy and Dirk are technically your half siblings, but you don’t think of them as that. Mom had Roxy first, then Dirk a bit more than a year later. Then four years passed and she had you with a new dude. A year later, they had Rose together. Then the dude (your father, you guess) ollied-outie when little Rosie was just a few months old. Whatever.

Even though Rose is a year younger than you, you’re in the same grade. Mom thought it’d be easier or something, so she made you and Rose little geniuses but only had Rose join kindergarten early. You don’t remember, obviously, but Mom reports that the process was strenuous.

“Let’s spy on someone else now. Uh, Jade.” You suggest. You find her and point her out to John.

She was laughing at Karkat while helping him up. He must’ve fallen. Hah.

“Aw, Karkles.” John mutters.

“Look at how frustrated he is. Okay, he’s up. He’s skating away from Jade.”

“She’s still laughing.”

“’Course she is. Shit’s hilarious.”

“Mm,” John points. “Look at Kanaya and Rose.”

“Fuckin’ gay.”

They’re holding both hands, Kanaya skating backwards in front of Rose. Their smiling at each other. Rose actually sort of knows how to roller skate, unlike her brothers. Kanaya’s really good, but she’s more of a figure skater than a speed skater. But, she knows how to skate backwards, so that’s cool.

“Goals.” John says.

“Is that why you want to teach me how to skate so bad?”

“As if,” He ruffles your hair, and your hands practically teleport to fix it.

Roxy all of a sudden sits on your other side.

“Hey kids, whatcha talking about?”

“How in love with me John is.” You tell her. He shoves you.

“Is that right? I always knew.”

“It’s not exactly ambiguous.”

“Well. Pass me the baton, John. Yo, that rhymed. I feel like Paul Simon.”

You discreetly fist bump Roxy both for the rhyme and the Paul Simon reference. John pantomimes picking up and passing a baton to Roxy, signifying that he is free to go. He skates away, but not before running his fingers through your hair up the back of your head. Roxy flattens it for you, absent-mindedly stroking your hair like the big sister she is.

“So, you and him a thing yet?” She says casually.

“Hah. Nope, still just best friends.” You get that all the time—you and John are just _really_ close. You don’t like John like that, and he doesn’t like you.

“Aw, sorry. One day.”

“Right,” You pause. “You and Jane a thing again?”

“Ughhh.” Roxy’s hand drops and she leans over the bar. “Don’t even mention that.”

“You know, I never got the full story there.”

“Well, it’s not much to tell. Jane was experimenting, pretty much. It was fun but she’s just not into girls, so it was weird. Only lasted a week,”

“Do you like her, or—?”

“Nah, man.” You can tell she’s being genuine. “She’s hot, obvs. Love her to death. But yeah, just best friends. Like you and John.”

“Nice.”

“I actually think Jane might have a thing with Dirk right now. She hasn’t told me anything yet, though. But, if we’re going by age, that would make you next.”

It takes you a second, but then you understand that she means, in your family, you’re the next youngest from Dirk, so, in your family, you’ll be the next one Jane dates.

“That’s funny ‘cause John was _just_ accusing me of liking her.”

“Why’s that?”

“I was kinda staring, but I was just thinkin’ about how much John looks like her.”

“True. When he’s older, they’ll look like twins I bet.” Roxy looks for them. They’re skating near each other, and it sort of looks like they’re racing. Jane must be going easy on him. “Like when they’ve both reached the age where four years don’t look much different.”

“What about me an’ Dirk?”

“Eh, you’ve got the same hair color, similar eyes. Your eyebrows are darker. You got your dad’s nose.” She boops it. “Not that you remember what he looks like. It’s a good nose though. Rose and I got Mom’s, Dirk got our dad’s. Um… You’ve got a rounder chin.” You make a face, and she reaches out and squeezes your cheeks together with one hand. “Stop that, your face is adorable.” She lets go. “Besides, Dirk’s is, like, crazy angular. Of course, you’re about a head taller than him.”

Dirk is the shortest in the family. Then Roxy, then Rose, then you.

You and Roxy talk until Jake comes over. You talk to person after person after person until the dice game starts.

Jane meets you as you cautiously enter the rink. The tradition is that one of the better skaters in the group helps you out during the game, since you can barely skate a foot by yourself. Jane takes your arm and you skate until the music stops, as per the rules.

The two of you get out on the third round. No one in your group wins.

Everyone takes their skates off and you walk over to the food section. You set all your stuff down at a table and people start walking towards the line.

“I’ll watch our stuff,” John says

“Don’t you want anything?” Jane asks.

“I wanna keep some money.”

Jane just shrugs and walks to the line.

 You stare at John until he notices, and you just smile and follow after Jane.

“No! Dave you better not—!” He groans when you make no move to show that you’re listening.

You buy two pieces of pizza and two sodas. They give the pizza to you on just one plate, but whatever. You get Pepsi for both of you.

You slide into the booth next to him and push his drink to him, the pizza staying in the middle.

John pretends he doesn’t notice the food.

“So. What’d ya get, Dave?”

“A piece of pizza and pepsi.”

“Ah.”

“Got the same for you.” You pick up your slice and push the plate towards John.

“Man, if you’re gonna be buying me all this stuff, you might as well ask me out already.” He takes a frustrated sip of his soda.

You set your pizza down before throwing your arm over John’s shoulders and pulling him in close. “John Egbert,” You use your other hand to tilt his head to look at you. Your faces are closer than you thought they’d be, but you pretend you’re not startled. “Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my boyfriend?”

\----------------

Your breath hitches and you sorta space out. You know that Dave’s joking, but you still want to say yes and kiss him. After a moment of you staring, he breaks the silence.

“No, dude, I’m joking.”

You blink. “Oh, yeah. I was spacing out.”

“Lost in my eyes?” He smirks.

You laugh, cupping his cheek and tilting his head down so you can see over his shades. He looks up at you.

Dirk coughs. “Gay,” He coughs again.

Dave looks across the table at his brother for a moment before looking back at you. “Pf. We can go gayer.”

“Hell yeah we can.”

Then he kisses you. It’s not a normal kiss, it’s very messy and ostentatious and you play along while still kind of trying to _kiss._

It’s a blessing and a curse to be this close to the person you have humungous crush on. A blessing because you can kiss him and cuddle with him and see him half naked but a curse because you know none of it means what you want it to mean.

Unless Dave thinks the same thing?

You don’t think so. But maybe one day.

“Yep, that’s pretty gay.” Jane comments from her seat next to Dirk.

Dave retracts his arm and leans forward. You kick back and start on your pizza.

When everyone’s finished eating, you migrate to the games area. The Strilondes destroy everyone at DDR, Kanaya is surprising _really good_ at the motorcycle race game, you and Jake are good at the old timey games—especially you. Jane and Karkat are better at the simpler, childish games.

The session ends and you all file out.

“New seating arrangements?” Jake asks.

“Sure,” Kanaya agrees. “Roxy chose first last time, so…”

“Go for it,” Roxy nods Kanaya’s way.

“Okay, Rose, Karkat… Dave and John.”

“Alright, Jade’s ridin’ with the big kids!”

“We better skedaddle. I’ve gotta get home.” Jane hugs everyone and you all exchange goodbyes.

You secure a seat next to Dave, who’s sitting in the middle.

You elbow him. “Can I chill at your house for a while longer?”

“Sure.”

“So—” Kanaya interjects. “I’m dropping off Karkat first, then the rest of you?”

“Uh-huh.” You grin.

“Alright.”

“Unless you want to come over, Kanaya.” Rose offers, casually sliding her hand onto the middle compartment.

Kanaya looks down at it for half a second before looking back at the road and reaching out to squeeze her hand. “I have homework.”

“You could bring your homework over?”

You see Kanaya smile, just a little bit. “I’d never get anything done with you distracting me.”

They continue on like that for most of the ride while you, Dave, and Karkat talk about anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i started editing..... and then i stopped. sorry this took so long tho yall !! hope u like


	4. The Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is unrelated but i cant find my earbuds and im not happy abt that :/  
> but anyway im sorry i take soooo long to update this, this school year is rly killing me. It's mostly AP euro. But yeah, I don't get a lot of free time these days 8( It's thanksgiving break though so I can actually breath for once.   
> Thanks for all the support btw guys, I love all the comments i get on this :')

Kanaya ends up promising to come over if she finishes early enough. You and Dave get out of the car way before Rose does.

“I wonder when Rose is gonna woman up and ask her out.” Dave muses as he unlocks the door.

You consider this a message to yourself, too. But no, it’s not time to woman up yet. As soon as someone shows interest in Dave, or he shows interest in someone, you’ll step in…Maybe.

“Kanaya might beat her to it.” You set your stuff down on their coffee table and sit on their couch.

Dave flops down right next to you, angled towards you with his arm resting on the couch behind you. “Wanna bet on it?”

“Now you want to _take_ my money?” You kick your legs over his and lean back.

“We can bet something else.”

“Like?”

“Um… Profile pic?”

“As in?”

“If I win, I get to choose what your profile picture on Facebook is for a week and vice versa.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Cool,”

You shake on it right as Rose walks in.

“What are you boys up to?”

“Nothing.” You say at the same time. You snicker and he smirks.

“If you’re betting on me and Kanaya, you can tell me.” She leans against a wall next to the door.

Dave looks at you and you shrug.

“We are.” He says.

“And?”

“We bet on who will ask who out.” You explain. “I’d tell you who bet on who, but you might be biased.”

“Understandable.” She smirks. “I could make the same bet over you two.”

Dave rolls his eyes behind his shades, tilting his head to let us know. You act as if your reaction is the same, when really you’re wondering how much of a joke that was.

“Don’t waste your time, Lil’ Sis.”

“I’ll try not to. And I’ll start by not talking to the two of you.” She smiles at you and you stick your tongue out. “Say bye to me before you leave, John.” She disappears into the hall.

After a second, Dave says. “I feel like that doesn’t bother you that much.”

“Huh?”

He shrugs, a small, somewhat uncomfortable grin creeping on his face. “People thinkin’ we’re in love or whatever.”

“It… Doesn’t. That much.”

I mean, you are in love with Dave. Well, you like Dave… Okay, you’re pretty much in love with him—people say if a crush lasts more than four or so months than you’re in love. And it’s been literal years.

“Yeah, it just gets old after a while. Ya know, we’ve been friends for like five years, and people we’ve known forever think we’ve got a thing.”

Before you can answer Dirk and Roxy walk in. You exchange greetings, and once Dave is looking away Roxy nods towards him and winks at you and Dirk gives you two thumbs up. Then, they’re gone.

“They’re just teasing.” You poke his stomach. “Looks like it’s working.” You say the last sentence as innocently and sing-songy as you can. You look up at him and smile.

“Oh no you _did not.”_

Dave pushes you down onto the couch and pins you.

You laugh. “Look at you, all hot and bothered.”

Dave sits up and lets you laugh until you’re calm.

Then he starts tickling your stomach _furiously_.

You laugh and flail manically, trying to shove his arms away, but he doesn’t budge. It takes a minute for him to start laughing too, and then another minute for him to stop. He grabs your wrists and pins them again.

You take a few deep breaths. “Rude,”

“Too bad.”

You sit up and scoot back just enough to gain balance—you have to do this fast or you’ll fall back, or he’ll push you. But you manage. Then, your faces and chests are no more than two inches apart, and it’s officially a game of who moves away first. You stare at him, able to see the outline of his eyes but not the color.

He cracks a smile first, but doesn’t move away. Then you start laughing because who-knows-why, and his smile grows.

“What?”

You laugh a bit more, shaking your head. “I don’t know.”

He breathes a laugh and his arms slink around your torso lazily.

“’d be cool, actually.”

“What would?”

“If we were in healthy, requited, romantic love.”

“Requited—?”

“Returned, like we both feel the same way.”

“Are you telling me that—”

“No,” He says it quickly, but not loudly. “I’m not telling you that I have unrequited feelings for you. I’m saying I wish I did, besides the unrequited part.”

“I’m confused.”

“Okay. Like.” He looks away, as if collecting his thoughts. He looks at you again before speaking. “You and I would make a great couple, wouldn’t we?”

“Uh, I suppose.”

“I mean, we get along _famously_ , we’re both hot, we—”

“Speak for yourself,” You mutter, almost not wanting him to hear.

But he does, so he cuts off mid-sentence to give you a disappointed look.

“Shut the fuck up, you’re the hottest person I know.”

“ _You_ shut the fuck up.”

“Make m—”

You put your hands on either side of his face and pull him closer so you can kiss him before your arms wrap around his neck. You share a nice, long, casual make out session. You could never get tired of his lips, you think.

Finally, when it’s over, he says, “See? That was hot.”

You laugh. “Fuck you.”

He shrugs, smirking. “Anyway, we know each other really well, we enjoy being around each other—and Imma be real, you’re a great kisser.” He licks his lips and grins. _Ugh_ he doesn’t even _KNOW_ what he does to you.

“Thank you, but what’s your point?”

“I think it would be fun and easy and sort of beautiful for us to be together. The thing is that we don’t have romantic feelings for each other. But, you can’t deny, if we could just be together and not have to worry about finding anyone else, that’d be _so nice_.”

“…Yeah, I can dig it.”

You’re all of a sudden very sad. He definitely wouldn’t say that if he liked you. He must have considered dating you and, despite all the pros, he decided against it because he _truly_ only likes you as a friend.

Dave pushes his shades onto the bottom of his nose and narrows his eyes at you. “You good fam?”

You laugh at his language. “Yeah, I was blankin’ out a little.”

“Pf, okay. You’d let me know if something was wrong, right?”

“Of course.”

“Alright, good.” He scoots off of you and stands. “Hungry?”

“No, thanks.”

“Thirsty?”

You snicker and he shakes his head at you.

“Depends what you have,” You say when you’ve composed yourself.

“I have a whole bunch of Capri Sun?”

“HELL yeah.”

Dave nods and goes into the kitchen. You swing your legs off the couch and sit up to find a little note on the floor. It just has “dont read until after!” written with pencil in Jade’s handwriting.

“Did Jade give you a note?” You call to Dave, deciding you shouldn’t read it until you know what it is.

“Oh, yeah. Musta fallen out of my pocket.” He walks back in and tosses a Capri Sun at you. After he resumes his seat next to you, he says, “Gimme,”

You hand the note to him. “What is it?”

“Dunno. She just gave it to me in the car with no explanation.”

“Read it!”

“Eh, I should probably wait ‘till I’m alone.”

“I don’t count, come on.”

“Fine, but only ‘cause I’m curious as hell.”

He unfolds the note and begins reading silently.

“Wait, read it out loud.”

“No,” He smacks your knee.

You grumble, but resign to just watch his facial expressions.

His shades are still on, so you don’t see everything. But you notice his jaw drop, and then his eyebrows knitting, and then his lips pressing into one firm line. Then he folds the note and puts it back in his pocket.

“What? What? What is it?”

“I don’t know if she wants you to know.”

“Is it about me?”

“No,”

“Then why would she care?”

“Eh….”

“Is it bad?”

“No. Just… A shocking development.”

“Then what’s the big deal!”

“I don’t know, bro.”

“What if I trade you, secret for secret?”

“Um… Depends how good the secret is.”

“Hm. Who do you want it to be about?”

“You or Rose, probably.”

You take a deep breath. “Once, Rose and I—Actually I’m not sure you want to hear this.”

“You can’t play me like that, man. Now I _need_ to know.”

You hum for a second before taking another deep breath and looking away. “Rose and I went to third base together once. Heh.”

When you look back up, he’s got this theatrically disgusted face on—no, not disgusted so much as mortified. You make an apologetic face.

“Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww…” It’s barely more than a mutter, and it lasts longer than you think should be legal.

“I warned you—”

“No, that’s not fair. You were just adding suspense. God, what the hell happened?”

“Well, first of all it was completely platonic, and it was agreed upon that we were just being friends having fun.”

“Where was I?”

“I think you were going to a concert and your mom drove you while Rose stayed home?”

Dave hums and nods.

“Um, and I came over to ask Rose to proofread this big English paper and then when she was done I stayed over and… It just… Happened…”

“What do you mean it just happened? Did my little sister just trip and fall on your dick I mean she took ballet as a child she’s not a clumsy person I don’t see—”

Your snickering causes him to stop.

He relaxes. “Tell me the full story, Bro. If you pull through, I’ll tell you what’s in the note.”

“You want all the dirty details?”

“Ew, I can’t even joke about that. That’s my baby sister, man.”

“Okay, sorry. Um… I don’t know, we were talking and we were like laying on her bed together and I think we were talking about sex and relationships and things, y’know, progressed.”

“Right. I still don’t get it, but I don’t want to know any more. Man, how many of our friends have you—You know what, nevermind. Jade has a crush on me.”

You blink. “What?”

“The note. Jade likes me.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Um… Like, how much? Is it—is it bad?”

He hands you the note. “Bad enough that she wrote a note instead of just telling me.”

You skim it. It just sort of says that’s it’s been going on for a couple months, that she’d love to be Dave’s girlfriend but if not she wants to know so she can move on. She talks about staying friends and such.

“Huh.” You pause. “What are you gonna do?”

“Um. Text her, maybe?”

“Text her what?”

“That I read it and ‘friends’ sounds good.”

“So you don’t like her?”

“No.”

“Do you like any one?”

“Hm. No.”

“Boring.”

He raises his eyebrows, amused. “Well, my apologies. What, do you like someone?”

Oh, shit. “No.”

“That’s a lie if I ever heard one.”

You feel your cheeks get hot. “…It would be _I’ve._ If I’ve ever heard one.”

He gives you a pointed look. “Evasion.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Who is it?”

“Can’t say.”

“Aw, dude. Secret for secret?”

“No, no. Can’t.”

“Who could it _possibly_ be that you couldn’t tell me?”

“I don’t know, don’t think too hard about it, please?”

He pauses. “But I’m so curious, man.”

“Please?”

He groans. “Fine.”

You maneuver yourself so that you’re laying down on the couch with your head resting on Dave’s thigh.

“Don’t you wanna date somebody?” You ask.

“Eh. Honestly sometimes I feel aromantic, except I know I’ve liked people before—but rarely.”

“You could be demiromantic, or grey? There’s a whole spectrum.”

“Eh, I’m not big on labels.”

You nod and try to take a sip of your Capri Sun while laying down.

Dave turns on the TV and you watch old episodes of Zoey 101 for a couple hours before your dad wants you home. You give Dave a big hug goodbye and exchange farewells with Rose before driving home.

When you’re alone in your room, ready to go to sleep, you think that perhaps you should tell Dave soon. Who knows when someone will like him and he’ll give them a chance? Maybe that person can be you? But how does one tell their best friend of some five years that you’ve had a crush on them for three?

Whatever. You don’t need to think about it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early thanksgiving, Americans! Happy early Thursday, everyone else!  
> (honestly I hate Thanksgiving, im not about the constant misgendering and bigoted comments. If that's you too, hang in there. im sending you love)


	5. Terezi: Ruin Everything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo. I don't feel like editing... Hopefully it's not too bad, lmao.
> 
> I thought of a title! It's kinda lame, but it's something. Lmao.

The next day, you pick Dave and Rose up and drive to school. You watch Dave pull Jade away from the group and tell her how he feels. You glance over repeatedly; you can’t hear what they’re saying, so you just watch their gestures. It seems to go well, Dave uses his casual hand motions and Jade sort of restlessly plays with her hair and clothes and such, and then they hug and return to the group.

By the end of the week, you still haven’t decided whether or not you’re gonna tell Dave. On Saturday there’s a dance your group’s all going to. Rose drives you and Dave to your house after school before driving off towards Kanaya’s house.

The two of you walk inside and sit on the couch. Dave’s gonna help you with your math homework. You’re not understanding a lesson, and Dave aced Algebra II two years ago. You start taking out your stuff.

“So how was your day, dude?” Dave asks.

“Eh, fine. Yours?”

“Same.”

“Excited for the dance?”

“Um… I guess.”

“Wanna go together?”

“Actually, I’ve got a date.”

Your jaw goes slack and your hands stop moving. You sit up and look at him. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, ya know, Terezi asked me—I never really liked her but I thought I might give it a shot. I could see things working out, maybe? I’m not sure.”

“Oh,”

“If you want me to call it off I will.”

“No, I’ll hang out with the others.” You know he would absolutely do it. He’d sort of do anything if you asked him to. You think it’s because you were his first ever good friend and he’s still worried he might mess up. Also he just really cares about you and maybe feels… thankful? “You enjoy your date, sir.”

“I’m not sure I will. It might be weird. I haven’t been on a date ever.”

“Well, your first date has to happen sometime.”

He takes a breath and nods once. You know he’s worried.

“How bout this, you help me with math and I’ll help you with dating.”

Dave breaths a laugh. “Deal. Show me your notes.”

He helps you understand Ellipses and all the stupid points on them. It takes you a while to memorize everything and then wow graphing is a drag. When you finish, you put everything away and sit cross-legged on the couch, facing Dave. 

“So. Dating tips?”

“Uh, yeah...”

You think. “I mean, it’s a dance? You wont have to worry about conversation much since you can just… dance..?”

“Have you been on any, um, dance dates?”

“No, actually. I prefer dates where you can really talk to the person. Cause dates are supposed to help you realize if you and the person would be a good match, or whatever. But, um.” Wow, you’re… so… sad… “I guess I don’t have any good tips. Be yourself?”

“Aw, but you’re _always_ going on dates.”

“I know. But I haven’t really dated anyone in a while, so I probably suck at it or something.” 

“I’m at least 100% sure you’re the one who doesn’t want to go on more dates with the other person. I’ve seen you reject people.”

“Yeah but—yeah, okay.” You don’t know why, but people like you. But not the person you _want_ to like you. “Either way, Terezi already likes you, so it should be fine.”

“Okay,” His eyebrows knit. “I’m 17 years old and I’ve never dated anyone.”

You consider how you might respond. “Yes,” Is all you say.

“Is it me? Like, that’s weird, right?”

“No, it’s not you. People have liked you before. You just didn’t like them.”

“But I’ve liked people. Why haven’t I liked anyone who’s liked me? I can’t even imagine that. How do two people get so lucky to like each other at the same time?”

“…Did you tell the people you liked that you liked them?”

He pauses. “No.”

“Then maybe they did like you!”

“Okay, that’s a good point. But, they probably didn’t.”

“How do you know? Who hasn’t liked you, dude?”

“You,”

You pause. “I don’t count. You’re my best friend.”

“Kanaya?”

“But Kanaya likes your sister, who looks and acts just like you, aside from your shades or her lipstick.”

“We don’t act alike at all.”

“Okay you’re right but you _think_ the same.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well anyway, you never really know who likes you, even if it seems like someone doesn’t, you don’t have to give up hope without, like, asking...”

“So what about you?”

“What?”

“You’ve got a crush. Have you told them?”

“Well, no, but…”

“But?”

“I haven’t given up hope yet either.” You sort of have. But, you’ll figure that out later.

He nods. “Fair enough. Damn, it’s gonna kill me ‘till I know.”

“It might not be too long…”

“’Till I know?”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“I’ll take it.”

Rose comes and picks Dave up around 6. You walk him to the car to say hi to Rose before going back inside and preparing to cry. But you don’t, so you grab some of your saddest movies and make popcorn and just let it all go.

Your dad gets home in the middle of Moulin Rouge. 

“Sorry I worked so late, but I had a lot to do before the weekend.” He calls, headed for the kitchen. “What do you want for dinner?”

You hesitate. You’re absolutely drowning in tears and there’s no way you can hide it. “Whatever you wanna make,” You say it slowly, trying your best to sound normal. He walks out of the kitchen with concern on his face anyway.

You weakly smile at him from your spot on the couch.

He just takes a breath and sits next to you. He picks up a DVD case from your pile. You watch as he reads the title, then leans down to look at the others. “Sad movies, huh?”

You nod.

He leans back, putting his arm around you and pulling you close to him. “What happened?”

You sniff. “Dave’s going on a DATE with TEREZI.”

Dad pauses. “Why are you upset? You think he’d stop hanging out with his _best friend_ for some girl?”

“No,” You whine, not sure what to tell your dad.

“Then what is it, son?”

You push your head into your dad’s shirt and mumble, “I like him,” As unintelligibly as you can manage.

“What was that?”

“I like him,” You repeat, barely clearer.

“…You can tell me anything, John.”

You raise your head and stare at Dad. “I like Dave!” You almost yell.

His eyebrows shoot up and his eyes widen and he looks so fucking _startled_ wow there was probably definitely a better way to come out.

“Uh—hold on, so you’re… are you not… transgender anymore?”

“What? Noooo, Dad!” It’s more of a frustrated whine than a yell.

“Sorry, I’m old. I’m just confused.”

“I’m biromantic demisexual, Dad.”

He just stares at you. “I don’t know what either of those words mean. But I support you.”

You chuckle. “Biromantic means I feel romantic attraction towards two or more genders and demisexual means I need to form a bond before I feel sexual attraction towards a person.”

“Like you and Dave, you’re really close.”

“Bingo.” You pause. “But I’m not just sexually attracted to him. It’s the romantic part that sucks. If it was just sexual I could—”

“We don’t need to talk about that.”

“Right.”

“But… Dave, huh? For how long?”

“Since freshman year,” You admit, looking down.

“Whoa-oa-oa, Bud.” 

“I know, it’s bad.”

“How did I not… know? Does anyone know?”

“No one. I kept it on the down low. Which is… probably why I still like him, three years later.”

“Do you think you might tell him?”

“Maybe? If it goes bad with Terezi I definitely will. If not… Maybe.”

“Well, for now do you want to watch some happy movies? We can get Chinese if you want?”

“That sounds perfect.”

He smiles and you smile back and he walks to the kitchen to call in an order.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing about this fic is that I know where I want it to go but i don't rly know how to get there, so it's been taking me a long time to write a little bit, yknow? I have a couple chapters ahead written. I just need to figure out how to keep it interesting and avoid having too many filler chapters. I'll figure smth out though, I always do B)
> 
> comments are always appreciated!! <3


	6. Put On Your Dancin' Shoes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is.... very dramatic. i kinda hate my writing in this chapter but i love Angst

The next day, you drive to school for the dance and meet up with Jade and Karkat in the line. Kanaya asked Rose to be her date to the dance. Dave insists that you haven’t won the bet until Kanaya actually asks Rose to go out with her. He’s just a sore loser.

The dance isn’t as fun as they usually are, what with half the squad off doing their own thing. It’s still fun to hang out with Karkat and Jade—but you feel a little left out at times. They’ve been friends for longer than you’ve known them, and they have a sort of dynamic that you’re just not a part of.

At one point, Vriska steals you from them and you dance with her for a while. You know she sort of has a thing for you, but you’ve never liked her, really. She also has a sort of thing with some girl who’s in college, and she only comes onto you when they’re on a break or fighting. So you let her have this. And maybe if Dave can see you, he’s jealous. He probably can’t see you. And he probably wouldn’t be jealous.

The dance drags slowly on until you decide to pop outside and get some fresh air. You might even try to leave—though, you’re not supposed to. It’s some security thing that once the dance starts, you have to stay. But maybe if you asked nicely, whichever staff member is guarding the gates will let you out.

You make your way outside into the outside lunch area. A good amount of it is roped off, probably so people don’t wander the campus and mess with shit. There are a good amount of people out here, but it’s still A LOT less crowded than inside. You find an empty bench and sit there. At first, you check your phone and go on some social media and try to act like you aren’t desperate to leave and just go home. But when you put your phone away and look around to scope out the supervisors to figure out how to escape, your eyes sweep over Dave and Terezi.

You guess the date is going well.

You’re frozen, staring at them for a moment, before you realize you’re forgetting to breath. You look down and inhale through your mouth, but it feels stale and shallow and your throat feels dry so you breathe through your nose as you start searching for a water fountain. The only one is right by them. So you resolve to leave, somehow. You stand and put your phone away, but you’re shaking BAD so it takes more than a couple tries to push it into your pocket. You walk over to your English teacher from freshman year, who’s guarding the ropes.

“Hey, John. Enjoying the dance?”

“Honestly, um… Not so much,” Your voice sounds scratchy and weak and she notices. “I know you’re not supposed to let people out but I need to leave…”

She looks around, as if thinking. “I don’t know, are you sick?”

Lovesick. “In a way?”

“Maybe if I could talk to your dad and make sure he can pick you up…”

“I have a car,” You take out your keys with shaking hands. “See? Please?”

“Um…”

Your eyes get itchy as you feel tears threatening to fall. “I just want to go home. Please let me go home,”

“John?” Dave’s voice makes you jump. Oh god oh no oh god. He still sounds far enough away for you to run out and avoid him.

Too bad your teacher’s already looking at him. You guess you just have to deal with this.

“Dave, could you walk John to his car?”

You look up at her, hoping you heard her wrong but knowing you didn’t.

“Yeah, sure.”

You look down and pretend you’re not hearing what you’re hearing and that you’re not where you are. It’s like you turned on autopilot.

“Come talk to me when you come back so I know he got to his car okay, okay?”

“Okay. Be right back, TZ.”

As your teacher starts walking towards the gate to unlock it for the two of you, Dave puts an arm around you. In your mind, his skin is burning through your clothes to your shoulders.

“Feel better,”

“Thanks,” You mutter, trudging out the gate.

“What’s wrong, dude?”

“I just want to go home.”

“John, really.”

“Really, I just wanted to leave.”

He pauses. “You told me you’d tell me if anything was wrong.”

“Just leave me alone, Dave.”

“I can’t. I obviously can’t.”

“That’s funny.” Your problem literally stems from him leaving you alone.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

You don’t respond. You realize that you’re being stupid. But you can’t stop now, that’d be too embarrassing. He stops walking, letting his arm fall. You keep going until he grabs your arm and makes you face him.

“We’re in the middle of the street, Dave.”

“No one’s here,”

“What do you want?”

“I want you to tell me what’s wrong so I can help.”

“You can’t.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“How ‘bout this: I don’t want your help. Go back to the dance and have a good time, okay?”

“How can I be happy if you’re not?”

“Just… pretend I am. I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

His face softens. “No, don’t feel bad. It’s just because I care about you.”

“Well, then stop.”

“C’mon, John.”

“I don’t want you to sacrifice anything for me. You’re always—” You sniff loudly. “You’re always doing all this stuff for me but you don’t have to. You don’t. You could be the biggest asshole to me and I’d still love you. Just go back and be with Terezi, I know where my car is.”

You put your head down and turn towards your car. You’re already crying by the time he grabs you by both elbows to make sure you don’t turn away. You weakly grasp his forearms but you don’t look up.

“John, you mean the world to me. I’d do anything for you and—”

“That’s not healthy.”

“Listen. I’m fine with it. I love it. I’ll never regret anything I’ve done for you if it made you happy. You deserve it and it makes me feel better about… about how much I owe you.”

“But you don’t owe me anything.” It’s more of a whine than anything else.

“You don’t know, John.”

You look up. “I know that I was your first friend and all that. But becoming friends with you was never hard, it was never a burden in any way. It wasn’t, like, heroic or anything.” You wait until he makes eye contact with you. “You don’t owe me anything.”

There’s a pause. “You had friends before me. I didn’t. You are the reason I know everyone we hang out with. You’re the reason I’m still here, John.” You gasp when you notice a streak of wet on his cheek coming from under his lenses. “I’ve told you that shit sucked before you came along, but you don’t _know_.”

“Hey,” You wipe his cheek. “Don’t cry, please. You’ve made my life better, too. You… I’m sorry I yelled. I love that you care about me. I care about you too, that’s why I want you to go back and have fun. I’m gonna be fine. Go,”

“Just tell me what’s wrong and I will.”

“I can’t, Dave. I actually can’t. Even if I tried to say it, the words wouldn’t leave my mouth. I know they wouldn’t.”

“I don’t want to leave without helping you.”

“I’m the one leaving.”

“Let me come with you.”

“You have a date.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“So will I.”

He takes a breath, looks around as if thinking, and then looks back at you. “Okay, but I’ll walk you to your car.”

You nod and he lets go of your arms. The two of you start walking.

It’s quiet for a moment. Well, quiet save for the muffled sound of the music coming from the gym.

He talks first. “I still want to know what’s wrong.”

“Tough.”

You look at him and crack a smile. He breathes a laugh and shakes his head.

“Whatever, but promise you’ll talk to someone about it. Please?”

“Sure, I’ll find someone.”

“Alright. Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“Yes! You have to go confirm that I made it to my car anyway.”

“She’s probably forgotten by now.”

“I don’t think so. But either way, I’m just gonna drive home, maybe get tacos or something. Nothing fun.”

“If you’re there, it’s gonna be fun.”

You pause, trying to mentally will yourself not to blush. “Quit flirting with me, you’re on a date.”

“Never.”

You reach your car and start unlocking the door. “Fine, keep flirting with me. See if I care.” You smile at him.

“You love it.” His smirks back.

“No way. It’s just, so annoying,” You get into the driver’s seat. “When losers hit on me, like, stay in your lane. I’m way out of your league.”

“Right, my apologies.”

“Okay, I better go.”

“Alight. One more thing.”

He casually takes your glasses off and wipes under both of your eyes. You look at him, wide eyed… Though he’s all blurry. He’s wiping your glasses on his shirt.

“What are you doing?” You ask.

“Well, tears can make vision, like, worse. And you’re driving, so.” He pauses, looking up at you. “Your eyes are mesmerizing, dude.”

“Says the guy with red eyes. Also, I said stop flirting!”

He chuckles and carefully puts your glasses back on you.

“Get outta here, Egbert.”

“I can’t when you’re standing in the doorway.”

“Fair enough,” He moves out of the way, but stops the door as you start to close it. “But, yeah. I love you, man. I’m gonna text you when the dance is over.”

“Looking forward to it. See ya,”

“Bye,”

You shut the door and stick the key in the ignition. Before you take off, you text Dave.

EB: i love you too, by the way.

You do end up getting tacos. When you get home, your dad’s sitting on the couch.

“What are you doing home, son?”

“I bought tacos, if you want any.”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

You sit in a recliner in the living room.

“Yeah, I left early ‘cause I wasn’t having fun, ya know.”

“Was it Dave?”

“Yeah. But he’s perfect and wonderful and walked me to my car and everything. He offered to leave with me, but I made him go back to finish his date.”

“Wow. Do you think they’ll last?”

“I don’t know, it looked like it was going well.”

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?”

“Yeah. He’s gonna text me when the dance is over.”

Dad pauses. “What do you wanna do?”

You shrug.

“Arrested Development?”

You grin and nod. You love your dad’s way of cheering you up—putting on a movie or show you guys love. It always works, if only for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw i didnt edit this before posting so....... lets hope its okay. lmao


	7. The aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long guys. I'm kind of neck deep in Miraculous Ladybug hell rn :/ But I'm gonna see if I can wrap this fic up soon, but it probably wont be toooo soon, but ill try my best 8)

You forget to check your phone until you go to your room at around midnight. You see that Dave responded to your text almost immediately earlier.

TG: i know B)

And then there are a bunch from when the dance ended.

TG: dance = over  
TG: howre you feelin  
TG: john  
TG: joooooooooohn  
TG: bro don’t leave me hangin  
TG: youre not asleep are you its only 10:30  
TG: cmon dudeee  
TG: are you just fuck deep in a shitty movie marathon  
TG: hfjhfkdhkgs  
TG: so its 11:30 now an hour and a half since the dance ended and i have yet to hear from you  
TG: i mean i bet you just left your phone in the kitchen or something stupid like that but im still worried lmao  
TG: johnjohnjohnjohn  
TG: broseph  
TG: pls

Shoot! You better reply before he shows up at your door.

EB: for your information, it was an arrested development marathon :B

TG: jesus christ kid  
TG: you got me all hot n bothered  
TG: how are you

EB: i’m okay, i mean i immersed myself in the antics of the bluth family for five hours so i’m not really thinking about my problems.

TG: okay  
TG: you still need to talk to someone about it you promised me

EB: i know, i will.

TG: anyway though are you busy tomorrow

EB: nope.

TG: im thinkin of getting everyone together cause we didnt really squad up at the dance

EB: sure, just let me know when and where.

Dave messages your group chat suggesting you hang out in the park, and everyone agrees. You wake up the next morning, feeling… sort of better about everything. Like, maybe they were just making out? Who knows. In any case, you decide to look extra hot today, sporting your favorite pair of gray skinny jeans and a blink 182 shirt you cut into a muscle tank with huge ass arm holes. You don’t spend all that time working out for nothing. And you didn’t get your dad to pay allllll that money for top surgery NOT to show it off.

Dave picks you up and you climb into the passenger seat.

“Why aren’t you taking Rose?” You ask. He starts driving once you put your seatbelt.

“She made arrangements with Kanaya. Plus, I wanted to talk to you.”

“We can talk with Rose in the car.”

“Not really.”

“Oh… there’s something, like, specific?”

“Yeah. Sort of.”

You pause. “So?”

“I think maybe we should resume our argument, maybe it’s important.”

You groan. “It was _stupid._ I was just being difficult.”

“Well, I don’t want to argue about it anymore, but I do want to talk about it.”

“Go for it.”

“Uh, ‘kay. Mainly, I wanted to reiterate that when I say I’ll gladly do anything for you, I mean _gladly_. Nothing I’ve done for you has ever backfired. You don’t even… you don’t ask for much, anyway. But even with this attitude I have of me owing you, I don’t feel like… How do I say this and not sound stupid… Like, I don’t feel like I’m less than you, if that makes sense. I _do_ feel like we’re equals. I just also feel indebted to you. If you were a prince, I’d be your first knight and we’d be best bros and all but I’d still jump in front of you if you were about to get stabbed in battle, you know what I’m saying?”

“Dave no, just pull me out of the way of the sword or push the attacker away. We can both survive, dude.”

“See, that’s what I mean.”

“Huh?”

“While I’m always looking out for you, you’re looking out for both of us.”

“Okay, see, that made it seem like you don’t look out for yourself, which isn’t good.”

“I do, don’t worry. It’s not the best metaphor, I guess. But I don’t want you to feel bad about me, like, serving you. It’s practically in my genetic coding. It’s how it’s meant to be.”

Serving? God, that sounds horrible. “…Okay, Dave. And just so you know, I’d do anything for you too.”

He cracks a smile. “Alright. Also, I sort of wanted to tell you first, I, uh, asked Terezi to be my girlfriend.”

You force yourself to be a supportive friend because that’s what Dave deserves, even if it’s hard. “Oh, how’d it go?”

“She said yeah, so.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t seem so psyched..?”

“I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do or what it’s supposed to feel like…”

“That’s okay, that’s normal for your first. You’ll figure out how you want it to feel.”

He looks at you for a second before looking back at the road. “Really? That’s how it works?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty… complicated, actually. You’re gonna want different things from different relationships and at different times in your life. You’ll figure out, from what you want, how you want it to feel… And sometimes you want different things than your partner and it works, but sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it’s not enough to love someone and to love being with them because you just don’t work well… You know?”

“Yeah,” He pulls into the parking lot. “How often do you think about this?”

“Eh, I’ve dated enough people that I sort of have to get it down to a science if I want to survive.”

“…I don’t fully understand that, but that might be because I’ve never dated anyone.”

You shrug as he parks the car. “So… Why did you ask her out?”

“Um, the date was fun, yknow. I like talking to her. And we made out so I sort of… felt like I had to?”

You narrow your eyes at him. “That’s not a good reason to ask someone out, bro.”

“Well, that was just part of it. I don’t know. I think it might be good for me. To date… someone… Someone who I like at least as a friend, so if it doesn’t work out and I end up actually liking someone else, I won’t be clueless.”

“What if it messes up your friendship? Not that it probably will, ‘cause it depends on, like, everything but..?”

He pauses. “This is gonna sound terrible, but I’d live.”

You hesitate before laughing. “Wow. Dave, I love you but you better make sure she’s on the same page about this relationship… Otherwise, she’s gonna get hurt, dude.”

He nods. “Yeah, that’s true.” He grins and shoves your arm. “What do you care, you hate Terezi.”

“What? No, she hates me.”

“You hate each other.”

You hold your serious face for another second before a wide smile grows on your face. “Yeah, I kinda hate her. But hey, best wishes to you.”

“Thanks man. I appreciate it.”

“It’s gonna be hard, watching my own son go off with such a delinquent. But, I want you to be happy, so.”

“What do you mean your son, _you’re my_ sugar son, remember?”

“Right. It’ll be hard watching my sugar daddy go off with such a delinquent. Is she even cool with our whole dynamic? Like, we get sorta gay.”

“I’m sure she can deal with it.”

“But she _already_ hates me, so—”

There’s a knock on the windshield. You and Dave turn your heads to see all of your friends looking at you like you’re crazy.

You open your door. “You’re interrupting a very important conversation about how gay Dave and I are.”

Rose teases, “Oh, our apologies.”

Jade shakes her head. “It seems you’ve forgotten that this is a _squad_ hang out, and we’ve been waiting for you.”

You chuckle as you hop out of the truck. Dave gets out after you and locks it as you start towards the grass. 

You walk quickly up to Rose, wrapping an arm around her waist and picking her up by the back of her knees, bridal style. Laughing, she latches onto you by your neck.

“Jesus, John, what if you dropped me?” 

“What if I dropped you? Rose, you’re, like, tiny.”

“Please, I’m twice your height.”

“You’re right, but my guns are four times the size of yours.”

“Your ‘guns’?”

“You know, my rippling biceps.”

“Right, of course.”

“Maybe John doesn’t know what it means to talk to multiple people at once.” Jade muses loudly. As soon as you look at her, she sticks her tongue out at you.

“Sorry, Jade. Do you want me to pick you up instead?”

She laughs ostentatiously before casually picking Karkat up the same way you picked Rose up. Karkat gasps just a bit too loudly to get away with it without everyone laughing at him.

“Hey, fuck you guys, I wasn’t expecting to be manhandled by fucking She-Hulk today.”

“I don’t know if you meant it as one, but I’m definitely taking that as a compliment.” Jade grins proudly.

“Hey Maryam,” Dave eyes her, raising his eyebrows and smirking obnoxiously.

She grins and walks over to him. “Be my guest, if you think you can handle it.”

He picks her up, though not as easily as you and Jade. You and her are easily the strongest in the group, but Dave’s, uh… sort of close behind. But not super close. But, he’s pretty strong. Speed and precision are more his thing, so he says.

“Are we setting up for a race or what?” Jade grins.

“I don’t know about that,” Rose smiles. 

“Let’s go to the big tree,” Kanaya suggests. 

When you reach the tree, you set Rose down and start climbing. The tree is perfect for climbing as long as you watch out for the sappy parts. You climb as high as you can go while still being able to hear your friends on the ground. Dave sits next to you on the branch a few seconds after. Rose and Kanaya lean against the trunk on the floor, having their own conversation.

“I’m gonna go to the gas station and grab drinks, anyone want anything?” Jade offers. Everyone but you throws some money at her and tells her what they want.

Dave throws down another five. “Get John a monster.”

You start to protest, but Jade shushes you as she starts walking off. Karkat follows her.

You look at Dave to see him grinning at you. You shake your head.

“It’s just five dollars, dude”

You sigh. “Thanks.”

“My pleasure. If only to see you all frustrated.”

“You torment me.”

“By spoiling you.”

You turn towards him, straddling the branch. He mirrors you.

“I just feel bad.” You pout.

“Honestly, don’t. If I didn’t want to buy you something, I wouldn’t offer.”

“Okay, yeah, but I should be able to buy my own stuff, yknow, for after high school and stuff.”

“Don’t worry, I’m never leaving your side. If I do I’ll send you child support.”

“Oh my god.” You roll your eyes. “In any case, I wish I wasn’t the broke friend all the time. I should get a job.”

“Ooh, look at you. Where would you wanna work?”

“I don’t know. Fast food is easy. Maybe the movies or something.”

“What about that record store I love?”

You shrug. “Sure, that sounds cool.”

“They’re hiring.”

“Oh, sweet.”

“We should go sometime this week. I wanna get some new stuff for mixin.’”

“Sounds good.”

There’s a brief pause before Dave asks, “So, John, how’s life?”

“Good, good. You?”

He doesn’t respond.

“What?” 

“Oh, right. I was squinting at you, but, the shades.”

“Ah. Again, what?”

“Good?”

“Yes, good. How’s life for you?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Stop bringing it up. I’m fine, Dave, I’m getting through it. If it gets bad I’ll tell you.”

“You just seemed really, really upset last night, dude.”

“I know. I… was. But I was overreacting.”

“Then you can tell me what happened, right?”

“No.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Rose pop up and turn to face you. “What are you two talking about?”

“Nothing.” You say in unison.

“John, if something happened, you know it’s best to talk to me about it. I can help.”

You’re surprised when Dave doesn’t make a comment about her wannabe-psychologist-ness. 

You find her eyes. “I’m fine, Rose.” 

“Message me later.”

“We’ll see.” 

Rose climbs up to a branch almost as high as yours and Kanaya follows. It extends a bit in front of yours, so they sit facing you. Rose puts her elbows up on your branch right next to Dave and Kanaya picks at the bark idly.

“Did you guys enjoy the dance?” She asks sweetly.

“Uh,” Dave looks at you like he wants to make sure his answer will match yours. Rose whispers something to Kanaya and then there’s silence.

“The music was good.” You say to break the silence.

“You think so?” Rose responds.

“Not at all.”

You all laugh.

“It’s just ‘cause we’re all a bunch of hipsters. If we listened to newer music, we’d like it.” Rose smiles.

“But then we wouldn’t feel the rush of making fun of new age music.” Dave chimes.

You shove him. “You just like being a hipster.”

“Yeah, but I started liking it before it was cool.”

“I started liking _you_ before _you_ were cool.”

“When was I not cool?”

“Wait,” Rose interjects, looking confused. “Dave’s _cool?”_

You shake your head. 

“If I’m not cool, it’s only ‘cause you dinguses are holding me down.”

“Dinguses?” Kanaya repeats.

“It’d probably be dingi, right?” Rose asks her. She nods.

That’s when Jade and Karkat walk up. They sit on the floor across from the tree and Jade asks you all to come down.

When you’re all sitting, she passes out the drinks. 

“Since we’re all here, I wanted to make an announcement that I’m sure you’re all expecting.” Rose begins, smiling slightly.

“Who asked who?” Dave interrupts. 

“That’s up to interpretation—”

“No it’s not.” Kanaya shoves Rose. “I asked her.”

“Yeah, but I was _going_ to ask first until you interrupted me.”

“I didn’t interrupt you, I waited until you finished your sentence.”

“But when someone says, ‘Can I ask you something?’ you’re supposed to say, ‘Sure,” not ‘Will you be my girlfriend?’”

“You shouldn’t have stalled then.” Kanaya sticks her tongue out at Rose.

Jade giggles. “Their first argument as a couple.”

“Actually, our first was right after I said yes.” Rose smiles. “I wanted to win.”

“Win?” Karkat asks.

“Dave and John had a bet going. They wouldn’t tell me who it was, but of course I was rooting for the one who bet on me.”

“I didn’t know about this bet.” Kanaya looks between you and Dave. “So?”

“I win.” You grin at Dave’s pouty face and high five Kanaya.

“Ooh, what do you get?” Jade bounces.

“I get to choose Dave’s profile picture for a week. I haven’t chosen yet.”

“How fun.” Kanaya comments.

“Make it a picture of you and Dave kissing!” Jade suggests.

“Why?” 

“It would start chaos! Everyone would be asking about it. So many rumors.”

“Why would I want that? Besides, Terezi might beat me up.”

Jade gives you a confused look.

“Terezi?” Karkat asks for everyone else.

“Oh, yeah. Terezi and I are dating now.” Dave states, kinda avoiding everyone’s gaze.

Jade sinks back, her face falling. She fixes her gaze on something on the floor and maybe blanks out. Maybe you’ll talk to her about all this. Or maybe that would be weird.

“Good for you,” Kanaya says quietly, probably sensing the overall negative response from the crowd and not understanding it.

“Thanks.” Dave gives her a little smile. Behind his shades, you see him looking from person to person, maybe waiting for someone to voice their opinion.

“Terezi?” Rose says finally.

“What?”

“You like Terezi?”

“Um, she’s been a good friend.”

“So?” Karkat asks. “That’s not why you date someone.”

“Hey, leave him alone, guys.” You defend, kinda quietly. You agree with your friends, but you think it’s about time Dave dated somebody… Terezi’s like a trial run so he can get the hang of it. You’ll be the real thing. Hopefully.

“Anyway,” Kanaya begins. “Are any of you planning on trying out for the play?”

“I’m going to!” Jade exclaims, instantly looking happy again.

“I probably will.” Dave shrugs. 

You know he will and you know that he’s excited for it. He always does the open-audition plays at your school and he loves it. You go to all of his performances for the straight play, but for the musical you’re stuck in the pit playing keyboard the whole time. You get to see him during rehearsals, though. And he practices his songs in front of you usually, since you can play his notes for him if he needs them. 

This year, the school’s doing And Then There Were None. Dave’s got his sights set on Lombard and Jade wants Vera. You think Dave would be an adorable Marston, but then, he’d be an adorable Anyone. You’ll just have to wait and see.

The day goes by. You and Dave walk to his car and get in. 

“Dave?” You ask before he can start the car.

“Hm?” He looks at you.

“Are things gonna change?”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that you’re dating Terezi, are you gonna hang out with her during lunch and after school and stuff? Are we gonna stop hanging out as much?”

“We’ve never stopped hanging out when you date someone.”

“I guess… I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry.” He ruffles your hair. “I like you too much to stop hanging out with you.”

“Good.” 

You reach to ruffle his hair but he leans away. So, naturally, you unbuckle your seatbelt and crawl onto his lap. You grin as your hands completely fuck up his hair, which is soft and nice and beautiful. All of a sudden, the back of his chair leans way back, taking him with it. Your hands, still in his hair, pull you down so that you’re lying on him chest-to-chest with your legs awkwardly straddling his lap. You’re both laughing for a moment as his hands find their way to your waist. When the laughter stops, you’re both lying there, panting softly, faces (and lips) inches apart, looking into each other’s eyes… And then he squeezes your waist on both sides and you squeak and flail, and he starts laughing again. You sit up.

“Super rude.”

He props himself up on his elbows. “You started it.”

“I was just being cute and playful.”

“I’d probably call it hot instead of cute. Now please return to your assigned seat.”

You crawl back over the middle-compartment-thing and put your seatbelt back on while Dave adjusts his seat so that it’s upright.

“Are you allowed to call me hot anymore?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs.

“You’re gonna piss Terezi off so often.” You grin.

“Nah. _We’re_ gonna piss Terezi off.”

You high five.

He starts the car and starts backing out. “We’ll have tons of fun.”

“I might. But you? Have you seen Terezi mad? She’s terrifying.”

“She’s never been mad at me.”

“Yeah, it’s no fun.”

Dave chuckles. “What even happened between you two?”

“She’s just… We don’t get along.”

“When did you meet?”

“I don’t know. Elementary school.”

“You’ve held this grudge since elementary school?”

“Well, okay. We didn’t really fuck with each other back then. Then she went to a different middle school, and then we met again freshman year in P.E..”

“And what happened?”

“We were set against each other in pickleball and she cheated. And that sounds dumb.”

He laughs. “And that’s just never been resolved?”

“No, it hasn’t. She wouldn’t admit it and our teams argued for a while until we just decided to keep going and then on her next serve she spiked the ball directly at my face.”

“Oh, dude, I remember that day. You came to lunch bleeding and you wouldn’t tell me who it was ‘cause you didn’t want me to fight anyone.”

“And now you’re dating her.”

“It couldn’t have been on purpose.”

“She laughed.”

“No.”

“I swear she did. And so, we’ve hated each other ever since.”

“Freshman year is a hard time for everyone.”

He parks in front of your house but you keep talking.

“Sure, sure. Remember when you first introduced her to us?”

“I do. Sophomore year. She insisted that she wanted to meet my friends ‘cause I talked about you all the time. You were both pissed.”

“We were. And to this day, you and Karkat are the only ones who like her.”

“Kanaya doesn’t mind her.”

“But she doesn’t love her.”

“Whatever. Terezi’s cool when you get to know her.”

“Hey, I support you.” You put your hand on his cheek and push him lightly.

“Thanks. Maybe I can get her to apologize.”

“Oh good luck with that, dude.”

“Maybe I’ll just let you guys be rivals. Adds a little drama.”

“Very mature of you.”

He shrugs, smiling slightly.

“John,” Your name coming from his beautiful smile warms your heart. 

“Dave.”

“I’m glad you’re my best friend.”

You smile. “You too.”

“You’re my favorite person, dude.”

“You’re _my_ favorite person.”

“John. I love you.”

“I love you too. Why are you being weird?”

“I just thought about it. I wanted to tell you.”

“You’re gay.”

“I know this.”

You pause. “I should probably go.”

“But I wanna talk to you,” He whines, sticking his bottom lip out when he’s done talking.

You poke it. “My dad probably does to.”

“Not as much as I do.”

“How do you figure?”

“He gets to live with you.”

“Mm. I still gotta go though.”

“Okay, fine.” 

You ruffle his hair. “See ya, Strider.”

“Later Egbert.”

You unbuckle your seatbelt and get out of the car. As you walk backwards to your door, you and Dave hold up hand-hearts to each other.

Your dad’s making dinner when you get home. You help him out while you update him on your predicament. You’re fine. You feel fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't proofread so my apologies for any mistakes!


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